suicide bombing

WASHINGTON — The State Department confirmed Friday that a U.S. citizen launched a suicide bombing against Syrian government troops earlier this week in what is believed to be the first time an American has been involved in such attacks since the start of the Syrian civil war.

Opposition forces fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad had earlier claimed that Abu Hurayra al-Amriki was, in fact, an American fighter who carried out a May 25 truck bombing outside a restaurant in the government-held northwestern city of Idlib. Al-Amriki’s nom de guerre is translated from Arabic as “Father of Hurayra the American.” Continue reading →

An American soldier died in a Taliban attack at a military base, which came on the heels of a suicide bombing at a Kabul restaurant that killed 21 civilians. Gwen Ifill talks to Pamela Constable of The Washington Post and Omar Samad, a former Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman, about instability in Afghanistan. Continue reading →

In other news Monday, a suicide car bomb in central Baghdad killed at least 23 people — detonating right outside the main Shiite religious affairs office in Iraq. Nearly 200 people were wounded in the explosion. Also, officials in Pakistan condemned a suspected U.S. drone strike that killed at least 15 people. Continue reading →

Explosions and gunfire shattered the early morning calm in Kabul, just 90 minutes after President Obama ended his surprise visit to Afghanistan where he signed a pact with President Hamid Karzai outlining the U.S. role there after NATO troops leave in 2014. Ray Suarez reports. Continue reading →

In other news Monday, at least two people were killed and 100 hurt when possible tornadoes struck Alabama. The huge system stretched from the Great Lakes to the Deep South, where the heaviest storms were hitting. Also, a U.S. Marine pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty in the killing of two dozen Iraqis in 2005. Continue reading →

In other news Friday, at least 25 people died in Syria when an explosion rocked an intersection in Damascus. Government officials claimed the blast was the result of a suicide bombing, but opposition activists accused the regime of staging the attack. Also, five NATO troops were killed in a series of bombings in Afghanistan. Continue reading →

The carnage that has bloodied much of Syria came home to the capital Friday when two bombs erupted in Damascus, killing nearly four dozen people and wounding more than 150. Inigo Gilmore of Independent Television News reports. Continue reading →

Two bombs erupted in Syria’s capital Friday, killing at least 47 people and wounding more than 150, but many activists and regional analysts are skeptical of the Assad government’s claims that al-Qaida is behind them. Ray Suarez gets an update on the bombings and the ongoing protests in Syria from NPR’s Deborah Amos in Beirut. Continue reading →

The latest in a recent series of high-profile insurgent attacks came Monday in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where a suicide bomber blew up a checkpoint, and then three gunmen seized control of a building near the United Nations refugee office. Ray Suarez reports. Continue reading →